As Time Went By
by Celesitie
Summary: Have you ever wondered what would've happened if that bloodsuck-Alice didn't see you jump off those cliffs?" Jacob asked.


Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I am using the storyline/characters for the amusement of the public with no profit being gained from it.

Author's Note: Well, this is my first fanfiction for Twilight. I've been doing fanfiction for ages and now I'm going to give it a shot with my new favorite line of books. So, here's hoping I please you, the audience. Please read and review and tell me how you like it.

**Start off: **This is set after New Moon without Bella jumping off the cliffs. So, it does not have Alice running to Bella, taking Bella to Italy, and having the good, happy ending we all know and love. When Jacob asked Bella in Eclipse that he wondered what would have happened if Alice didn't see Bella, I got to thinking. This is what I thought.

**As Time Goes By**

_Your tears don't fall…_

Well, I certainly did – on my cute butt, as a matter of fact. The floor was freezing as my alarm kept blaring 'Tears Don't Fall' by Bullet for My Valentine. Yet another CD Phil sent me. I grappled with the numerous things cluttering up my nightstand for the snooze button. Shrieking, I scuttled away from the lamp as it fell near my head. But it successively shut off my alarm.

"Bells! Did you die up there?" Charlie yelled from the stairs.

"Totally fine. Just mourning the loss of my lamp!" I returned.

Getting off my arctic floor, I realized there was something else very cold missing from my room: A certain 107-year-old that gave my heart a reason to beat as erratically as did. My hair went flying as I scanned every inch of my very small room.

"Edward?" I said at normal volume, which he would have been able to hear miles away.

"Yes, love?" Edward said behind me. I turned so quickly my feet tangled and I went down to make the acquaintance of my floor a second time. The dear man, he caught me before I so much as breathed on the hardwood surface. "You know, if anyone looked at all your bruises, someone would swear I was a woman beater."

"Edward!" I smiled, relieved. He pulled me into his arms and it didn't take long before I was hopelessly lost.

He sighed, "As always, very delicious." His arms kept me in his tight embrace.

"As always, I didn't want you to stop." I bumped his head with my forehead.

* * *

The crash of thunder terrified me. I bit off a scream, before it woke all of Forks. As I looked at my dark, sullen room – the beauty of my dream sped away from me. The pain of the hole, where my heart should have been, seared through my very being. It flared as I tried to hold my pain in and then became dull. I sighed.

Falling back onto my bed, I stared at the cracks in my ceiling. It had almost been a year now. And I was no better off than I was before. It was still the same dull monotony I had been expecting to deal with, just without the light of my life. I understood I would never have had been enough for him. A human, slow, dull, short-sighted but I love with him with the ferocity that only a human can know. The unadulterated love that flows between one person and another

But that is not and would never be enough for him. 'Stupid me.' I thought as I looked at the clock. '5:48, it is far too early to be up, but I cannot go back to those dreams.' I rose from my bed and mechanically made my bed in the dark. I walked to turn on the light and tripped on the floor. Screeching as I fell down, I landed hard on my knee and hands. I wanted to cry. 'Is it really so hard to believe that he wanted to stop pretending to be something he wasn't? Who would want to be a patient, content boyfriend to a bumbling girl-child?' I sniffed to control the tears. 'Not anymore in the house. Not around Charlie. If I have nothing else, I, at least, have him and Jake to live for. And Renee.'

Turning the light on, I looked for what I tripped on. My floor was spotless, as was the rest of the room. The floorboards were smooth, light-colored wood. Casting a slightly-distracted glance, I noticed one of my floorboards was pried up a little. 'How odd, I'll have to check that later. I'll keep tripping over it, if not.'

I picked up my bag of toiletries of my dresser and went to shower. Enjoying the warm steam, I tried to let my mind rest on unimportant things. It was getting easier to deal with the pain. The pain never lessened, but ability of humans to adapt to any circumstances should be named a miracle.

Time had passed, as time does. I had moved on with my life, not in terms of romance. That, for me, was forever dead. I had my first, my best, and my last all balled up into one stunning, bronze-haired angel. There was no male, undead or alive, that could ever compare. I was truly a one man woman and he had left. That was that. Since then, Jake had tried. And I really tried to give it a shot. We kissed and it was sweet, but nothing had come of it. He was my second sun, my second wind in my lungs that brought me back to life. But my repayment, as much as I knew I had fallen in love with him, could only be everlasting, never-shaken friendship.

I sighed and smirked. 'That boy is incorrigible.' I stepped out of the heat of the shower and proceeded to dry my hair. I thought of the day when I first hung out with him to find out about Edward and it still stunned me that my dreadful attempts at flirting worked on him. You reap what you sow, I suppose.

I gasped as I realized that it was this very day two years ago, that that fateful trip to Port Angeles had happened. I clung to the counter as my brush dropped into the sink with a loud noise. Pain ripped through my torso. I tried breathing evenly. I thought of Charlie, teaching me to fish for the first time and me nearly capsizing the boat. I thought of Renee, and how I loved watching her on the piano. The pain started to recede, bit by bit, till it bubbled under the surface. Finally, it was in check.

'Stupid, stupid.' I thought to myself. I knew better than that. 'Unimportant things, unimportant things.' I dressed in a light pair of jeans with a forest green long sleeved shirt. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I went downstairs to a note from Charlie.

_Went fishing with some friends down at the station. Will be back around 3pm. _

_Love you,_

_Dad_

Smiling, it had been some time since Charlie had gotten out of the house since Harry Clearwater's death. Like I said, miracle of the human adaption. I grabbed a poptart and filled a glass of water. As I was reading over the newspaper, I realized I couldn't stand this suffocating house anymore. I grabbed my parka and walked out into the backyard. The forest green stared back at me. Feeling the itch to explore, I did.

I wandered for hours. It was wet, it was mushy, but it wasn't inside. I kept my thoughts carefully away from every race through the woods, every note of the musical laughter that accompanied it. My legs started to ache and I saw a branch that seemed to beg to be sat upon. I did and it held a perfect curvature for my neck to be cradled by. I looked up the green-framed sky and I started to drift away into sleep…

* * *

The cold breath on my cheek could never be mistaken by me. _Vampires._ My mahogany eyes shot open and they met bright, crimson ones. My focus altered and I became aware of his whole face. His eyes were deeply-lashed, a very Roman nose, with thin lips. His hair was shorn into a military cut.

"You're an interesting one. A vampire, though faint, and a werewolf's smell are on you. Just, who are you, exactly?" His baritone voice held a faint British accent.

"Bella." I squeaked, my voice constricted due to the amount of fear and adrenaline coursing though me.

"Ah, so you're the one. Victoria told me it would be rather hard to get to you, but I find this is not the case." He grinned widely as he picked me up underneath my arms. I struggled as he brought his nose right underneath the hollow of my ear. Breathing deeply, "You are mouthwatering, my sweet. I must displease my friend and take you for myself."


End file.
